Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Feel Connected

Cynthia Sue LarsonSee Cynthia Sue Larson summarize this RealityShifters on YouTube!
Feel Connected

"The human being is part of the whole, called by us the 'universe', a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings, as something separate from the rest — a kind of optical delusion of consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty."
- Albert Einstein 


The biggest difference between my most enjoyable and least enjoyable memories has to do with whether or not I was feeling connected to others and the world around me at the time. When I feel a sense of belonging, I feel relaxed instead of stressed. When I feel empathy with others, I feel love instead of fear.

The Bond
While much of our feelings of being connected are subconscious, recent studies demonstrate surprising physically observable ways these connections manifest. Scientists reported this month that fire-walkers' heart rates are synchronized to friends and family observing; it seems evident that we gain physical and emotional support when in the company of those who feel connected to us.

In her marvelous book, The Bond, journalist Lynne McTaggart describes a number of ways humans are collaborative beings, whose needs to give, share, belong and network are at least as powerful as the drive to compete. I'm in agreement with McTaggart that finding ways to connect, interact and relate to the highest sense of good in others will be the key to mankind's future success. I love the big idea in The Bond that attaining a state of shared respect for more than one view of reality allows us to feel bonds of connection of tremendous depth... bridging differences of politics, religion, gender, species, and all aspects of personal identity.

Coming from a contrasting yet supportive perspective, Simon Baron-Cohen asks us to consider the true root of terrorism, gang violence, and crime. Baron-Cohen proposes these social ills have one common cause, and while we might initially view them as evil, he asks us to ditch the word "evil" in favor of "empathy erosion" -- a pernicious state of mind in which we lack any feelings for others and treat them as objects of our will. You can take his Cambridge University EQSQ Empathy Test to gain insights into whether your mind tends to empathize or systemize. 




Let’s Connect
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Would you like to view the video summary of this RealityShifters on YouTube? Feel free to take a few minutes to watch this video, as well as video shorts summarizing other recent RealityShifters newsletters. And remember to keep asking, "How good can it get?" in every situation, no matter how good... or how "empathy eroded" it may be.

Love always,
Cynthia Sue Larson
email Cynthia at cynthia@realityshifters.com 

Monday, May 2, 2011

Master Reality Shift Ethics

How Good Can it Get?

Cynthia Sue LarsonSee Cynthia Sue Larson summarize this RealityShifters on YouTube!
Master Reality Shift Ethics

"But all lost things are in the angels' keeping, Love"
- Helen Hunt Jackson


High Energy Money
I write about some amazing stories about finding money in my latest book, RealityShifters Guide to High Energy Money, so when I saw a San Francisco Chronicle article this week on the topic of The Murky Ethics of Found Money, I wondered, When money or other valuables manifest, how best can we see and master ethical considerations regarding the source of new prosperity in our lives? Sometimes we discover things (including money) that was not lost by someone else, and which clearly belongs with us at the time it arrives. Sometimes when I have found money, it was not a candidate for being returned to someone, because for example, it arrived directly in my wallet as I held it in my hands, discovering each time it opened another dollar bill that had not been there moments before.

The author of the found money ethics article raises the important consideration that, "found money can become the perfect missing piece to whatever moral puzzle you've constructed in your own mind." While indeed it is true that a simplistic attitude of "finders keepers, losers weepers" or some other such justification for why we deserve to keep what we found could at times be unscrupulous. Only by viewing each individual situation empathically from the point of view of the one who lost what we've found can we hold the moral high ground. The prevailing view of reality currently leans heavily against the possibility of money appearing out of thin air, yet for those of us who've seen money appear before our eyes, the question becomes one of how best to view the welcome windfall, and respectfully honor the participation of anyone else involved.

We know that when we find things we suspect belong to someone else, the ethical thing to do is care for them respectfully and make a serious effort to return them... even if it seems that what we found is small. But what shall we do when we literally see something appear out of thin air, or arrive in a closed area that nobody else had access to? A big part of the answer comes from caring for others as we care for ourselves. The importance of directing only positive energy toward others is centrally important in our own well-being and the well-being of those our thoughts and feelings influence. In my experience pulling dollar bill after dollar bill out of my wallet, as I describe in my book High Energy Money, I remembered I had moments earlier wished for enough dollar bills to pay my waitress a fair tip. My recognition of what this money was for made it clear to me that these magically manifesting dollars were intended to go directly to my waitress, not to me.

One of the best books on the topic of how people are capable of both ethical and corrupt intentions, and how we can minimize the damage and destruction we can do to others with our minds is Dr. Larry Dossey's brilliant book, Be Careful What You Wish For. Dossey describes how people utilize negative prayer both consciously (in order to win at a game or in business), and unconsciously (venting feelings and thoughts without regard for the effects on the recipients)... and he covers a wide spectrum of negative prayers from the sophisticated curses and hexes of sorcerers to the more common varieties of drive-by prayers and prayer muggings. Those who work with prayer every day, such as sorcerers and priests, know better than to make idly damaging statements such as, he ought to be shot, or I hope he chokes -- and Dossey includes some fascinating stories of how such thoughts have precipitated real physical effects. I consider Dossey's book essential reading for anyone seeking a better understanding of how to understand and protect oneself from negative prayer, even when those prayers come from well-meaning friends, family, and colleagues, and an excellent reference point when mastering the ethics of reality shifts.


Let’s Connect
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Would you like to view the video summary of this RealityShifters on YouTube? Feel free to take a few minutes to watch this video, as well as video shorts summarizing other recent RealityShifters newsletters. And remember to keep asking, "How good can it get?" every time you'd like to find out.

Love always,
Cynthia Sue Larson
email Cynthia at cynthia@realityshifters.com